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lights were off. They further stated that the engines appeared to be operating normally. The witnesses said the plane did not fly through or above any lower scattered clouds after it became visible to them. The estimates by these six witnesses of the altitude of the plane as it crossed the airport ranged from 300 to 350 feet. However, from the reactions of five of these witnesses who observed simulated flights made four days after the accident, it appears that the altitude of Trip 6 as it crossed the airport was no more then 200 feet.[1] Although the TWA personnel on the ramp lost sight of the airplane as it passed beyond the Robertson Hangar on the west side of the airport, the navigation lights were still clearly visible to the operators in the control tower.
Immediately after passing the west boundary of the airport, Captain Scott started a left turn, apparently for the purpose of making a landing from south to north on No. 6 runway. The sequence of events
- ↑ On January 27, 1941, four flights were made in a Douglas DC-3 similar to the airplane involved in the accident to simulate as closely as possible the flight path and flight altitude of Trip 6 as it crossed the airport. The first flight was an altitude of 350 feet, the second flight at 300 feet, and the third and fourth flights at 200 feet. These flights were observed by the two control tower operators from the control tower and were observed from the ramp by three of the four TWA employees who had seen Trip 6 pass across the airport on the morning of the accident. These five witnesses were not informed at any time before the hearing at what altitudes these four flights were flown. The control tower operators advised the second flight was approximately the altitude being flown by Trip 6. The three TWA employees on the ramp selected the third and fourth flights as approximating the altitude of Trip 6; they observed that the fourth flight most nearly simulated the flight path of Trip 6 and the airplane while on this flight disappeared from view behind the hangar at the west end of the field as had trip 6, whereas the other three simulated flights did not. In view of this fact, it seems certain that Trip 6 was at altitude of not more than 200 feet.
